New Team, Old Look for Saloon; P. J. Clarke's Changes Owners, Who Plan to Retain Atmosphere

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

Published: February 15, 2002

P. J. Clarke's -- that aged-in-wood, beveled-glass embodiment of a New York that disappeared along with the Third Avenue el outside its double doors -- will close next week as it changes hands for only the second time in 98 years.

When it reopens in June, still as P. J. Clarke's, it will be run by Philip A. Scotti, the proprietor of Sarabeth's restaurant, Docks Oyster Bar and the recently closed Saloon. Mr. Scotti plans to double the capacity by opening a clublike room upstairs, reached by a side door on 55th Street, but insists that he will not burnish away Clarke's quirks.

''I just want it to be alive again,'' he said yesterday.

''What do we plan to change?'' he said. ''Not a whole bunch. The mirrors that are streaked with age will not be replaced.'' Nor will he refinish the turn-of-the-century bar when he temporarily removes it to build a new floor. Nor will he delete oddly priced items like an $8.10 Caesar salad from the menu.

And Mr. Scotti said he wanted to offer most of the 60 employees -- some of whom have been with Clarke's for three decades or more and learned of the closing, scheduled for Tuesday, only yesterday -- a chance to come back after the renovation.

''I don't just want fresh-faced actors,'' Mr. Scotti said. ''It wouldn't be P. J. Clarke's.'' He also said he hoped that Daniel H. Lavezzo III, the current proprietor, would remain as a consultant, ambassador and ''link to the past.''

While Mr. Lavezzo was clearly comforted to hear this promise of continuity from Mr. Scotti, as the two met in a jumbled upstairs office yesterday afternoon, there was no disguising the poignancy of the moment.

Asked how he felt, Mr. Lavezzo said softly: ''I'm still waiting for the dust to settle. I've suspended my feelings so that I can make this as efficient and as soft a landing as possible, especially for my employees and my customers.''

Mr. Lavezzo's family bought the saloon in 1949 from the heirs of Patrick Joseph Clarke, who took over the establishment in 1904. The Lavezzos, who were antiques dealers, already owned the building itself, and patronized Clarke's, which served as the model for Nat's Bar in ''The Lost Weekend.''

Ten months ago, Mr. Lavezzo filed for bankruptcy protection in the midst of a legal battle with his landlord, the Reckson Associates Realty Corporation. Reckson owns the 47-story skyscraper immediately to the north of P. J. Clarke's at 919 Third Avenue, for which Daniel H. Lavezzo Jr. famously refused to budge in the late 1960's. In a bargain with the developers of the skyscraper, the Lavezzo family sold two little buildings on the block, one of which housed Clarke's, for $1.5 million and were given a 99-year lease for the saloon.

Reckson bought 919 Third Avenue in 1999 and now owns it in partnership with the New York State Teachers' Retirement System. Among its claims against Clarke's were five months' unpaid rent and unpaid water and sewer charges. In March 2001, a Civil Court judge ruled that the lease was ended.

But Reckson had a strong interest in maintaining the legendary presence of the old saloon. New Yorkers who have no idea how to find 919 Third can trace their way quickly if it is described as the big building behind Clarke's.

''We placed a high premium on perpetuating this institution,'' said Philip M. Waterman III, senior vice president and managing director of Reckson. ''Although P. J. Clarke's is -- to some -- the tail wagging the dog, to me it is the front of the building. It has historical and cultural significance and it is important to us.''

Mr. Waterman said Reckson extended as many courtesies as it could to Mr. Lavezzo when he ran into financial difficulties but that that approach was unavailing. (An ironic smile flickered across Mr. Lavezzo's face when he heard this but he said he did not want to speak against the landlord.)

Mr. Waterman said Reckson sought an operator who understood the value of continuing P. J. Clarke's and had the financial wherewithal to pull it off. Mr. Scotti's partners are Stephen B. Siegel, the chairman and chief executive of Insignia/ESG, and Arnold S. Penner, a longtime real estate investor.

''It was an easy decision to go with this group,'' Mr. Waterman said.

The new proprietors are buying the P. J. Clarke's name from Mr. Lavezzo and leasing the building for 20 years from Reckson. They would not disclose the terms of either deal. Their architect is Nancy Mah of Nancy Mah Design.

In its days under Daniel H. Lavezzo Jr., Clarke's could draw the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and the mobster Frank Costello in a single evening. Craig Claiborne of The New York Times gave it three stars and Nat King Cole called its bacon cheeseburger ''the Cadillac of burgers.''

But William Grimes and Eric Asimov said, ''Nowadays, the place looks the worse for wear'' in the most recent New York Times Guide to New York City Restaurants.

''There is no question that it needs an infusion of money to help fix it up,'' Mr. Lavezzo said yesterday, ''but the overall style Phil likes and wants to preserve. Which is the same way I feel.''

Photos: P. J. Clarke's, the East 55th Street saloon, was a famous holdout against a 47-story skyscraper. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)(pg. B1); Philip M. Waterman III, left, representing the landlord of P. J. Clarke's, and Philip A. Scotti, the new proprietor. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)(pg. B2)